athletics_alcs3_db20 Milton Bradley strikes out swinging in the top of the third inning. The Oakland Athletics play the Detroit Tigers in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series. Event on Friday, October 13, 2006 at Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan. Darryl Bush / The Chronicle MANDATORY CREDIT FOR PHOTOG AND SF CHRONICLE/NO SALES-MAGS OUT

Photo: Darryl Bush

athletics_alcs3_db20 Milton Bradley strikes out swinging in the top...

Perhaps this is what happens when a team performs below expectations, but all is not sweetness and light around the A's these days.

For several weeks, there has been a lot of grumbling in the clubhouse, some directed toward manager Bob Geren, as the A's place in the standings has plummeted. Then, former Oakland outfielder Milton Bradley delivered a blistering assessment of A's general manager Billy Beane in the Oakland Tribune on Saturday and he expounded on the topic in an extensive conversation with The Chronicle.

"Billy just has a way of thinking he's smarter and better than everyone else, and I don't take kindly to the better-than-you attitude," Bradley said at Petco Park before the Giants played the Padres on Saturday. "I don't think Billy cared about how I was. He knew he could use me for cheap and get a lot out of me. ... So he used me up last year and couldn't use me up any more. He always told me, when you're out on the field, you make me look good. I guess I wasn't out there to make him look good enough.

"I don't like to be lied to. Tell me the truth. You tell me I'm not an everyday player, and I just have to laugh at you because there's not a player they've got over there that's better than me. It's just a joke."

Beane said Saturday he does not wish to engage in a public debate with Bradley and said only, "I wish him well, I wish him good luck. That's really it. Milton is in a good situation."

Whereas the A's might not be.

With the reigning division champs falling out of contention, several players have voiced dissatisfaction with first-year manager Geren in the past week, though none would do so on the record because of concerns about job security and playing time. Among other things, one player described Geren as "wishy-washy" and another called him "oblivious." Players who spoke to The Chronicle last week said that Geren spends too much time in the clubhouse, he's overly friendly with the players and he is so loath to be negative, one player said, that he won't let a player have it when needed.

This comes less than a year after player disgruntlement contributed to Macha losing his job as Oakland's manager, and Beane chalked it up to frustration with losing.

"I certainly haven't heard it," Beane said of carping about Geren, "but you have to be cognizant of the fact that we've had a very difficult year with a lot of obstacles. It's been a challenge for the players, the front office and the coaching staff. Chemistry is built on success, everyone's success. We all get a little bit on edge when things don't go as planned, and it's not unique to this team.

"It's hard to create camaraderie when you're near the all-time record for injured players."

Geren's job is not in jeopardy, said Beane, in fact quite the opposite. Considering the team has used the disabled list 19 times, he said, the team's performance hasn't been all that poor.

Mark Ellis said he'd heard some criticisms of Geren, but, the well-respected second baseman said, "It's been a challenging year, no doubt, and there are a lot of guys at the same positions in the outfield and first base; that's never an easy situation and Bob has done the best he can with the hand he's dealt.

"When you lose, everything gets magnified and not everyone is going to like everything that's going on. But Bob's our manager and I think he's done a good job. He's made mistakes - like everyone in this clubhouse has made mistakes. And he's as good a person as I've ever met in my life."

Bradley doesn't feel the same way about Beane.

From the day Bradley was designated, June 21, there had been rumors of a spat between Beane and Bradley during a June 20 meeting.

"He already made his mind up before we went into any kind of meeting," Bradley said. "He tells me, 'If I don't see you in the office before you leave here today, then your bags are packed.' I called my agent right then and there, 'Get on the horn, find some other team. Because I don't want to be here any more.' "

Later, according to several sources, Bradley yelled toward Beane, "Get out of the clubhouse, no one wants you here. Everyone's sick of you coming in here."

On Saturday, Bradley said, "I didn't appreciate a lot of people being in the clubhouse. There were too many people in there. It's not big enough for all that. Every time you look around, (Beane is) walking in the clubhouse, and then he has a smart comment to say to somebody. He told (Bobby) Kielty, 'Oh, you're stealing money.' Guys are working hard. Nobody wants to be hurt. I guess he forgot about that because he doesn't play anymore. It's just, every other day you come in the clubhouse, all the doors to the training room are closed, the office is closed, everything's a secret, and meetings all the time. It just gets old."

Beane said that if Bradley yelled something at him, he didn't hear it. He reiterated that Bradley was moved because his playing time was going to drop off after he came off the DL.

Perhaps the main reason Bradley was considered expendable was that he could not stay healthy: He was on the DL five times in his year and a half with Oakland.

Bradley said during his meeting with Beane, "I just told him, 'I didn't appreciate (manager) Bob Geren not telling me I was playing until an hour before the game on the last day. I was told I wasn't going to be activated until we went to New York, and then an hour before the game all of a sudden I'm activated so you can designate me, trade me or put me out there to show I can play so you can trade me.' Then you try to push out to the fans that it's injuries or I'm not an everyday player or all this stuff. If I play half the season, I put up better numbers than anybody they got. It's just nonsense."

Bradley hinted to the Oakland Tribune that there were other factors involved in his departure, mentioning that other African American players, such as Terrence Long, Chris Singleton, Jermaine Dye and Frank Thomas also have moved on in recent years. Long and Singleton, however, both had public disagreements with former manager Ken Macha over playing time and communication, and Dye reportedly had a strained relationship with Macha. Thomas left for Toronto because he was offered more money and years there and he always has said complimentary things about Beane.

Shannon Stewart, the A's remaining African American player, said, "All I can say is that Billy Beane has given me an opportunity to play when most teams wouldn't. I don't think it's a black/white issue. I'm here playing and Billy has been good to me."